Identification test for highly refined sesame oil

Abstract

A method for confirming the presence of highly refined sesame oil in pharmaceuticals. By extracting, concentrating and detecting sesamin and epi-sesamin, through the method disclosed in the present invention, highly refined sesame oil can be identified. The disclosed method can be performed at room temperature and does not require over night extraction. In practice, the disclosed method entails extracting sesamin from a sample with an organic solvent, transferring and evaporating the solvent layer to dryness to form a residue. An alkyl halide is added to the residue to form a mixture. The mixture and an organic solvent are passed through a separating means, generating an eluent, the eluent is then evaporated to dryness to form a second residue. A 1:1 solution of an organic solvent and an alkyl halide is added to the second residue in a volume sufficient to form a concentrated extract. The concentrated extract is then analyzed with high performance liquid chromatography.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil, comprising: extracting sesamin from a sample with a first organic solvent, wherein, the first organic solvent is at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol. acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone or ethanol, to create a solvent layer and a waste layer;   transferring the solvent layer;   evaporating the solvent layer to dryness to form a first residue;   adding an alkyl halide to the first residue to form a mixture;   passing the resultant mixture through a separating means;   passing a second organic solvent, wherein the second organic solvent is at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone or ethanol, through the separating means to generate an eluent;   evaporating the eluent to dryness to form a second residue;   adding a 1:1 solution comprising a third organic solvent, wherein the third organic solvent is at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone or ethanol and an alkyl halide to the second residue in a volume sufficient to form a concentrated extract; and   analyzing the concentrated extract with high performance liquid chromatography.   
     
     
       2. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first organic solvent, the second organic solvent and the third organic solvent are substantially immiscible with sesame oil. 
     
     
       3. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein extracting sesamin from a sample further comprises: adding a fourth organic solvent to the sample, wherein the fourth organic solvent is at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone or ethanol:   shaking the sample; and   centrifuging the sample.   
     
     
       4. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sample is shaken for about 30 to 60 seconds. 
     
     
       5. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 3, wherein the sample is centrifuged for about ten minutes. 
     
     
       6. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for evaporating the solvent layer to dryness is a steam bath under a stream of nitrogen. 
     
     
       7. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separating means is a silica cartridge. 
     
     
       8. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alkyl halide is methylene chloride. 
     
     
       9. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein analyzing the concentrated extract with high performance liquid chromatography further comprises: injecting the concentrated extract into a column having a mobile phase; and   detecting the elution of sesamin and epi-sesamin with a detector.   
     
     
       10. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the column is a Resolve C 18  3.9 mm x 300 mm, 5μ. 
     
     
       11. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 9, wherein preparation of the mobile phase comprises: adding a fifth organic solvent, wherein the fifth organic solvent is at least one selected from the group consisting of methanol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, diethyl ketone or ethanol to water to form a solution;   mixing the solution;   filtering the solution; and   degassing the solution.   
     
     
       12. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the mobile phase has a flow rate of about 0.8 milliliter per minute. 
     
     
       13. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 9, wherein the detector is a spectrophotometer measuring absorbency at a wavelength of about 290 nanometers. 
     
     
       14. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 10, wherein injecting the concentrated extract into the column having the mobile phase comprises injecting about 20 μl of the concentrated extract into the column. 
     
     
       15. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, comprising: repeating the extracting and transferring steps a plurality of times; and   combining the solvent layers generated from the extracting and transferring steps.   
     
     
       16. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 11, wherein filtering the solution comprises: passing the solution through a 0.45 μm nylon membrane. 
     
     
       17. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 11, wherein degassing the solution comprises: sparging the solution with helium gas. 
     
     
       18. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is performed at room temperature. 
     
     
       19. The method of detecting the presence of highly refined sesame oil as claimed in claim 1, wherein extracting the sesamin takes less than one hour.